THE RIFT
    A Text Adventure for PC (disk 674) and ST (disk 704)
     Author: Michael Buonaccorsi, Playtester: M. Oliver

            A 2nd Opinion - by Bev Truter on PC

The Rift has already been reviewed by Shebo (SynTax, issue 31,
"AGT Reviews"), but having just attempted to play it, I feel it
deserves some more attention (negative, unfortunately). Generally
I agree with Shebo's overall opinion - i.e. this is an extremely
short game (only 20 locations available in the Unregistered
version), and certainly not worth the $15 asking price, even for
the dubious pleasure of getting 17 more locations. However, unless
the ST version of this game was a marked improvement on the PC
version, I was astonished by Shebo's comment...."I didn't find any
spelling or grammatical mistakes in what I saw." Really???  The
appalling spelling, poor grammar and sloppy expression were
precisely the things that ruined this game for me.

For example, the Introduction alone would be enough to irritate
most text adventure fans -: anomoly: a green light 'eminates'
from: fell apon: evacutate (evacuate?): burries itself in the
snow: ..wonder if you'll find a way off of this baron planet (a
Royal planet?). And things didn't improve further into the game
either - "interrest" cropped up several times, as well as "...a
plane grey wall".  If, as an author of text adventures, your
command of English is this poor, then the least you can do is
choose a playtester with a better knowledge of the language. But
no, poor old Michael O. is apparently just as inept as Michael B.

I know it probably sounds as though I'm being very picky about
using "proper" English, but when playing a text adventure it's
absolutely crucial to one's enjoyment of and involvement in a game
that the grammar and spelling are correct - at least better than
they are in this shoddy effort. Otherwise it's impossible to
suspend disbelief and remain lost in your fantasy world - poor
spelling and grammar simply haul you abruptly out of that cosy
little world, and forcibly remind you that you are sitting in
front of a computer, wasting your time in playing a badly-written,
mediocre game. So, Michael B. and Michael O., next time you decide
to write an adventure, either invest in a spellchecking and
grammarcheck program, or find a friend who has a more extensive
knowledge of the English language.

Even ignoring all the above, The Rift is stultifyingly boring to
play - the biggest problems you encounter are 1) Remembering to
examine your downed shuttle to find a flashlight, and 2)
remembering that Americans do not use "push" to activate buttons -
only "press" will work. So in 20 locations there is absolutely
nothing to do, apart from trudging around badly-described rooms,
collecting the obligatory crowbar, screwdriver and flashlight. I
presume that more action and problem-solving takes place in the
full version, but after playing this version I doubt if anyone
would be motivated to register for the complete game. The Rift
showed no potential for improvement in the Registered version, and
I have the sneaking suspicion that the extra 17 locations would
just be more of the same - horribly boring.


Another cause for irritation is that each time you die in the game
you are thrown back to the DOS screen. This is not a fault with
AGT, but rather laziness in programming on the part of the author
- altering one or two lines in the Command file and/or Data file
would have given you the choice of restoring a previously saved
game, and avoid the whole plodding sequence of reloading the game
after each dying scenario.

In view of all these drawbacks and limitations, I'm astounded that
the author requests $15 for the Registered version - even $2 would
be asking too much. I intended finishing this review with a
cheery, positive comment on the game, perhaps something vaguely
encouraging. But that, alas, is impossible.

    ENJOYMENT            .25/10
    ATMOSPHERE           .33/10
    DIFFICULTY             1/10
    FINAL COMMENT        If you're looking for a good text
                         adventure....  keep on looking.
                              - o -